Page 33 of On Thin Ice

I laughed and scanned through the images of a cozy kid-sized butterfly chair that would go perfectly with my theme, an otter stuffed animal because otters are my favorite, and a few onesies. My heart clenched. One of them was a picture of an acute angle and said, “I’m acute baby.”

And then I was thinking about the shirt Dom got me. How much thought had gone into his gift still brought up feelings that I couldn’t brush off as heartburn.

What was I doing?

Mom: Don’t ignore how perfect everything is.

I sucked in a breath at those words. Everything with Dom felt perfect and messy. Shit. I was so damn nervous about tonight. What would it be like to see him in person? Our last face-to-face had gone about as bad as possible, and we’d made real progress, but what would it be like without a screen between us?

Mom: Are we still on for a late lunch today?

I shook myself and focused on her texts.

Ally: Yes. And the gifts are perfect. I’ll text you when I’m out of my appointment.

Mom: Still feeling good?

I ran my hand over my ever-growing bump and smiled.

Ally: Just some heartburn.

Mom: She’s going to have a full head of hair when she comes out. You gave me the worst heartburn.

I had a regular prenatal appointment scheduled for noon, and with Ethan’s game tonight, I’d taken a half-day at work. Luckily, I was finishing up the review right now that was due by the end of the day, so as long as I stopped thinking about Dom, I could get my job done before I had to leave.

***

“Looking glowy and perfect as always,” Mom said after the hostess had guided me to the table a few hours later. “How’s my little princess?” she asked my belly.

“Doing well. Measuring where she should. I got new pics.” I sat down and pulled out the three images the doctor had given me. I’d already sent them to Dom. He claimed he loved all the new pictures even if he didn’t always know what he was looking at.

Why was that so sweet?

“Blissfully happy,” Mom said.

“What?”

“You. You look so happy. And my grandbaby is doing well. Ten weeks to go, and she’ll finally be here. I cannot wait.”

“Me either. She’s killing my bladder.”

“It’s all worth it. And I’ll be available for anything you need. Babysitter. Chef. I’ll help you hire a cleaning lady.”

I chuckled. Mom hated cleaning the house, as did Dad, so she’d made my father agree to a cleaning lady twice a month shortly after they’d gotten married.

“And, honey, if you ever want to talk to me about anything, you know you can.”

I put my hand over hers. “I know, Mom.”

“I just hate that you’re doing this alone. I mean, you’re not alone. You have a family who loves and supports you, and this little girl is going to want for nothing, but being a single parent is hard. So anything you need, you just call me.”

My heart squeezed. “Thanks.” She was dying to know who the father was. She was mad that he didn’t want to be involved, and that made me feel shitty because he did, and I was keeping him a secret because I didn’t know how to make it all work, and I hated that. I was a planner, I figured shit out, and currently, I was at a loss.

Right now, I could easily tell Mom about Dom. She knew all about him from years ago—okay, maybe notallabout him—but instead, we ordered our lunch and talked about how the nursery was coming along.

***

“I’m an asshole.”

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